Pro Bono News

Law Firm Summer Associate Programs Represent Disabled Low Income New Yorkers and Public Housing Tenants

Thursday, June 23, 2011

  • The Legal Aid Society
  • Source: New York

 Although law firms continue to have smaller summer associate classes, The Legal Aid Society’s pro bono partners have continued the tradition of representing low-income New Yorkers with physical and/or mental disabilities who are seeking Social Security Income Disability (“SSI”) benefits and preventing the eviction of New York City Housing Authority (“NYCHA”) tenants.

Summer associates, working with senior Legal Aid attorneys and supervising associates at their firms, have accepted NYCHA cases to advocate to save affordable housing for tenants and their families facing homelessness, and SSI cases to ensure that low-income New Yorkers with physical and/or mental disabilities receive basic subsides for food and shelter. This long-standing partnership with seven law firms - Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, Kaye Scholer LLP, Kaswoitz & Benson LLP, O’Melveny & Myers LLP, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates - expands the capacity of the Society’s Civil Practice to provide legal services to indigent clients.

In addition, summer associates from Shearman & Sterling LLP and Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler LLP are assisting Haitian immigrants apply for Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”).

Summer associates from Dewey & LeBouef LLP are also providing pro bono support through one month externships at The Legal Aid Society’s Law Juvenile Rights Practice and Employment Law Unit, while Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP will place two summer associates in the Community Development Project at the Harlem Community Law Office as externs.

The more than 20-year tradition of engaging summer associate classes in the work of The Legal Aid Society exposes the next generation of law firm attorneys, at the onset of their legal careers, to the positive experience of providing pro bono assistance.